I received the Giant Loop saddlebag in the mail yesterday. Unfortunately I got stuck at work until 1 in the morning so I have only just started looking at installing it.
The design is ingenious and the build quality is excellent. Tomorrow I will look at how I am going to put it on and I will take pictures and post them up. I want to make it so that I can remove it quickly so it may take some sorting out. I think if I wanted to just mount it the way it is supposed to be mounted it would only take about 15 minutes.
It also looks like it will hold more than I will need for a two week trip.

 

Awesome! Can't wait for the pics.

 

Yes, cant wait for... THE PICS!!!!

Hope you noticed the subtle hint in there

 

+1 Me too.

 

Well here is the first of a few pictures to come.



The bag is made of very heavy cordura, and stitched with heavy yarn. There are 4 compression straps around the bag with bombproof aluminium buckles to sinch down your load or to attach other stuff to the top of the bag.
There are two zipper openings to load it up. There are also some gear loops on the top as well. I was thinking that it would be cool if there were some outside pockets that specifically fit 1 litre fuel bottles, but you can't have everything.



I have wanted to make use of the holes in the rear fender that were left over from the tail light and tool bag removal for a while now. I was not lucky enough for the mounting holes in the bag to be the right distance apart to do this so I made up a little mounting plate out of some plastic butcher block material I had laying around. I will probably make a lighter one later.






The spacers are left over from my rear tailight mounting kit but you could use some nuts instead. They hold the mounting plate off the fender a little bit.



I then put the "GL" on the bike where I thought it felt the best and marked the mounting plate through the bottom of the bag, and drilled the holes.



I tapped the mounting screw into the plastic plate with a hammer and then lined up the bag and bolted it to the plate.

The sides of the bag bolt in the same way to the number plate, which I haven't done yet as I want to load it up with two weeks worth of stuff and see how it feels. It will probably be fine where it is but I might as well make sure before drilling the number plates.





The bag comes with a really good heat shield for the exhaust but I don't think I will need it for the KLX 250. We will see.





So there it is. I am sure that I will be able to get most of my stuff in there. The plan was to get a wolfman tank bag as well, but I bought a Sea Line waterproof back pack to put my laptop and other stuff in. I will to strap it to the top of the GL and I think I wll be good. Then I have a back pack to do some hiking in the mountains while on my trip.
The GL does not get in the way when you sit on the bike or hang your *** off the back if you were jumping the bike. It does not hang down by the wheels and it will balance really well. It will not interfear with a rear rack if you have one, which is a major plus if you want a top box.
My opinion is that this is a better plan for someone that wants to do some knarly off road touring, than the Dirtbagz or the Andystrapz offerings. Though they are really good products and tough as nails, they need some sort of side rack to keep them out of the rear wheel, which would make them heavier. Weight in my books is evil. I am really happy with the Giant Loop bag.

When I have a chance I will post some pictures of all the gear that will fit into the bag.

 

I got a bit of time to get my gear together to see what I could shoe horn into the GL. I started by putting everything into ultra light suff sacks. Weighing them and putting them intothe bag.

2 prs of socks
1 pr pants
1 pr shorts
2 lifa shirts
1 mid wt long underwear



1 bug shirt
1 down vest
1 balaclava
1 toque
1 pr thin socks



1 pr gortex pants
1 gortex jacket
1 pr spare warm gloves



stove and hanging kit
titanium cup/spoon
2 fuel canisters
headlamp
binoculars
camera
gps
big bear spray
flares and bear bangers



water filter
towel
bathroom stuff




Sleeping bag
hennesey hammock/bivi tent
thermarest mattress



I bought a waterproof pack for them as a last resort I will have dry stuff and a pack to get myself out of a predicament



This is how it looks



There is also room in the GL for

a spare tube
a patch kit
a pair of Keen water sandals
and a few other bits and pieces

There is room in the water proof pack for about four days worth of food.

Pretty cool

Total wt in the GL is 11.5 lbs
Total wt is 17.16 lbs

add ten lbs for water and food

Call it 30 lbs that aint too bad

 

Here is all the stuff that came out of the bags

 

UPDATE I have made some changes to my mounting system for the Giant Loop bag. I made a larger rear rack, and because I was leaving for my trip I just banged together the supports it. They were pretty flexible and over a period of time and many whoops the subframe crossmember fatigued and cracked. It wasn't too bad but I needed to fix it and make it stronger. so I started with some 10 gauge metal and made a new crossmember and my buddy welded it in place for me.

This is the cracked crossmember



Here is the new one

Welded in place

I painted it and threaded the two upright tubes

I made new supports from aluminium tubing and round stock


Fitting the supports and mounts took some time


I owe my welder buddy a few drinks.


Here is a comparison of the two different supports for the rack. The flat one had way too much flex


This is more like it

It takes about five minutes to install the rack and the Giant loop on the bike.



My dog helps me in the shop

 

cool build, very rugged looking with that diamond plate.

 

Wow how did I miss this thread a year and a half ago? Awesome, where is the ride report?